The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) publishes its Third Round
Evaluation Report on Slovenia

[Strasbourg, 13/06/08] The Council of
Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) has published today
its Third Round Evaluation Report on Slovenia. The report, which was
adopted on 7 December 2007, has been made public following the agreement
of the authorities. It focuses on two distinct themes: criminalisation
of corruption and transparency of party funding.

Regarding the criminalisation of corruption [theme
I], GRECO acknowledges the efforts undertaken by the authorities –
through amendments to the Criminal Code - to align Slovenian legislation
with the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173)
and its Additional Protocol (ETS 191). GRECO, however, notes that further
steps are required to ensure, inter alia, that bribery for acts not falling
strictly within an official’s statutory duties are covered and that
Slovenian courts have nationality jurisdiction over bribery and trading in
influence offences committed outside Slovenia by Slovenian citizens, even in
those instances where the criminal act concerned is not punishable under the
law of the foreign country where the act was committed. Moreover, Slovenia
should be more proactive in detecting, investigating and prosecuting
corruption cases.

Concerning transparency of party funding [theme
II], GRECO notes that although the Slovenian legislation is, on paper,
of a good standard, in practice the picture is less convincing. Political
parties and other election campaign organisers appear to be able to
circumvent existing legal provisions without great difficulty and are not
penalised in any way – neither by the electorate nor by the competent
supervisory body. GRECO therefore concludes that the Slovenian authorities
should ensure, as a matter of priority, that effective independent
supervision is in place and that party and campaign finance rules are
adequately enforced.

The report as a whole addresses 19 recommendations to Slovenia. GRECO
will assess the implementation of these recommendations towards the end of
2009, through its specific compliance procedure.